The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
As motor vehicle safety regulations have become more stringent, crash structures on motor vehicles have become more substantial. As crash structures have become more substantial, pillars surrounding the passenger compartments of motor vehicles have become thicker, thereby obscuring ever-increasing amounts of a driver's field of view. To mitigate such losses, cameras are being used to provide a surround-view perspective of motor vehicles. In order to provide sufficient field of view coverage to generate a surround-view or 360° view image for a motor vehicle driver, a number of cameras must be attached at various locations around the motor vehicle. Moreover, the cameras must be aimed in particular directions in order to capture the necessary field of view. However, contours of the motor vehicle at the various locations where cameras are attached often vary significantly. Moreover, because motor vehicles from different manufacturers are often shaped differently, even when using the same general attachment locations (e.g., front, rear, left and right sides) the contours of the motor vehicle may vary substantially from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even model to model. Therefore, in order to attach cameras to the multiple contours of the motor vehicle, a wide variety of camera attachments is required. However, manufacturing a wide variety of camera attachments can be costly, complex, and inefficient.
Therefore, while current camera attachments and apparati achieve their intended purpose in many applications, there is a need for new and improved camera attachments that are portable, weather-resistant, robust, shock absorbent, and have improved lifespan, modularity, and reduce the overall cost and complexity of manufacture.